Their First Meeting
by Kaiser's Apprentice
Summary: Once again Yuma has lost the Emperor's Key but this time, he has no idea where it is. Astral must find a way to get himself and the key back to Yuma before something goes wrong. Along the way, a new face appears and she not only helps our glowing friend but also captures some hearts along the way.


It all started out as a normal day for Yuma Tsukumo and his friend, Astral. It was Monday and once again, Yuma was running late. While Yuma was rushing out the door towards his school, Astral was deep inside of the golden key that Yuma always wore around his neck. Both of them were so absorbed in what they were doing, neither noticed the key drop to the ground as Yuma ran.

"Man! I am so late!" Yuma yelled as he ran faster, leaving the key and Astral behind. During that time, Astral was looking through the Numbers that he and Yuma had collected those far and was trying to work the machine that was within the key. After several more minutes Astral sighed and decided to end his attempts for now.

"It's been rather quiet," Astral murmured to himself. "I wonder if something happened to Yuma…I better check on him." Astral teleported himself out of the key to discover that his friend was nowhere to be found. He then noticed the key on the ground.

"Oh dear," he stated. "Yuma must've dropped the key by accident when he was rushing to school!" Astral silently cursed the boy's rushing, and was thinking of how to get the key back to Yuma, since he could not really touch much of anything, when he felt as if someone was watching him. Turning slowly, Astral came face to face with two violet-red eyes.

"Ah!" Floating back in shock, Astral was surprised to see a girl about Yuma's age staring right at him. Astral did not make any movements while the girl just stared; during this time, Astral took in the girl's appearance.

She wasn't that tall, but that was probably because she was young. She had long light blue hair, some of which were tied up in two smaller ponytails on both sides of her head. Two wing shaped clips also adorned her head. Astral also noticed that she did not where a school uniform, so she was not a student at Yuma's school; instead she wore a blue and white dress, similar to that of a waitress or a maid. Finally, Astral noticed her eyes: they were a red-violet color and were wide in surprise and interest. Astral had no idea who this girl was or if she could see him, but he did know one thing: she was what the human male would call "pretty". Taking in these observations, Astral almost didn't notice the girl smile at him and wave.

"Hello there," she greeted. Astral didn't reply but rather looked all around to see who the girl was talking to; no one else was around. The glowing duelist then turned back to the girl in surprise.

"Uh…hello," Astral replied hesitantly.

"Are you lost?" she asked. "Do you need help?"

"Uh…"

"I can help you if you want, my papa said I don't have to be back for another 30 minutes," the girl continued.

"I do need to get the key back to Yuma…" Astral muttered to himself. The girl appeared confused when she noticed the gold key on the ground. Picking it up, she held it up so Astral could see it.

"This key?" she asked.

"Uh yes. That is the key."

"And you need help getting this back to your friend right?" she asked.

"Yes but…"

"Don't worry, I'll help you! Just tell me where he is and I'll take it to him!" the girl exclaimed. Astral looked at the girl in shock and amazement, not even realizing that he was nodding. "Okay! Let's go!" Without warning, the girl suddenly took hold of Astral's wrist and pulled him behind her, the two of them running off to find Yuma.

"Wait!" Astral yelled as the two were running. The girl stopped and turned towards Astral.

"Is something wrong?" the girl asked.

"What is your name? Who are you?" Astral asked. "How can you see me, how can you hear me, and how can you touch me?" The girl tilted her head before smiling.

"Well mister, my name is LunaMaria but you can call me 'Luna' or 'Maria' or 'Mari', but most people call me 'Luna'. Who am I? I'm the girl who's going to help you find your friend and as to why I can hear, see and touch you…that's because…" Astral leaned in interest as Luna explained her ability. "I can because, ever since I was a little girl, I could see things most people couldn't see, Duel Monster spirits especially. I could talk to them and touch them and play with them. They were my friends when I was lonely." Astral's eyes widened as the girl retook his hand in hers.

"You can see spirits, which is why you can see me?" Astral repeated. Luna nodded before looking at Astral expectantly.

"Mister, aren't you going to tell me your name?" she asked.

"Oh…my name is Astral. It is very nice to meet you Miss LunaMaria." Luna giggled before starting to run again.

"Nice to meet you too Astral-kun!" After several minutes, the two made it to Yuma's school to find Yuma scouring all over the grounds, seeming to be panicked.

"Ah man! I can't believe I lost the key again!" Yuma exclaimed. "Where could it have gone!"

"Yuma!"

"What? ASTRAL!" Yuma ran over to his glowing friend and would've hugged him if he didn't know that it was practically impossible for him to hug the glowing being. "Don't panic Astral but I…"

"You lost the key," Astral finished.

"Uh…how'd you know?"

"Because when I appeared out of the key, I saw that you were nowhere in sight and that the key was on the ground," Astral stated. Yuma's eyes widened in shock.

"Ah! The key! Is it still on the ground? Where is it?"

"Right here." Yuma stopped his panicking as he noticed the key being held out to him and the blue haired girl holding the key.

"Oh, thank you," Yuma said as he took the key and placed it around his neck. "Man was I freaking out. Thanks for finding it uh…."

"Her name is LunaMaria," Astral stated. "She was the one who helped me bring the key to you Yuma."

"Oh thanks Luna, can I call you Luna?" Luna shrugged and nodded when suddenly, Yuma noticed.

"HEY! DID YOU JUST SAY THAT SHE HELPED YOU! HOW COULD SHE?"

"Well, she asked me if I needed help and I accepted. I told her where you went to school and…"

"WAIT! So you can see Astral? And hear him?" Yuma asked shocked.

"Of course I can. It's pretty hard to miss a glowing, floating person," Luna joked.

"But how?" Luna was about to explain when Luna saw the time.

"Oh no! It's late! I have to go! Bye!" With that, the blue haired girl was off. In her rush, one of Luna's clips flew off her hair and landed on the ground. Astral floated over and reached out for the clip, to be surprised that he could pick it up and hold it right in the palm of his hand.

"How is this…."

"Bye Luna! Thanks again!" Yuma then turned towards Astral asking for an explanation; Astral however was lost in his own world.

_'LunaMaria… Such a strange and mysterious person indeed, but very…pretty…_' Astral clutched the clip in his hand. _'I wish to see her again…'_

"I have to hurry! Papa will notice I'm gone and I won't be able to get out again!" LunaMaria sped up to only bump into someone. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry!"

"LunaMaria? What are you doing here?"

"Shark-kun? Ah! I have to hurry! I'll talk to you later okay Shark-kun?" Placing a quick kiss on the purple-haired duelist's cheek, the girl was off again. Shark stared after his hyper girlfriend before shaking his head and sighing.

"She's always in such a rush, but this time…she looked panicked…I wonder why…" Shark frowned but then shrugged it off.

_'Whatever it is, LunaMaria will tell me when she's ready.'_ With that, Shark headed off to class.

"Hey Shark! Want to duel!"

"Crap." Or not…


End file.
